UK recovery beats estimates

Britain’s economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, benefiting from a broad-based pick-up in activity that looked to have put the country’s burgeoning recovery on a firmer footing.

GDP expanded 0.7% from the previous quarter, data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics showed yesterday, beating initial estimates and putting Britain’s growth rate on a par with Germany.

“It does look like the recovery is becoming more self-sustaining,” said Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec.